Father Son Relationship In Night By Elie Wiesel

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Imagine if a sixteen-year-old boy turns into a father as an alternative? Night is a memoir of Elie Wiesel’s stories as a young boy that traumatizes him for his existence. The appearance of Nazis in Transylvania deports him and his family to a concentration camp. In 1955, in Mississippi, the novel tells the authentic story of the kidnapping and homicide of an African-American teenage boy, Emmett Till. It depicts the trial of his murderers from the perspective of Emmett Till's white friend, Hiram Hillburn. In Mississippi Trial, 1955, by Chris Crowe, the father-son relationship is one of a kind and similar to Night by Elie Wiesel. The father-son relationship is distinct among both books. Harlan, the father, protects Hiram for as long as he can. …show more content…

Harlan protects Hiram throughout the novel by preventing him from discovering Greenwood's darker side. In contrast, Elie is forced to protect his father due to a series of unfortunate events. Elie says, "The rest was for him" (Wiesel 106). In place of his father being the only one to surrender his water, the son has to. Hiram's relationship with his father improves as he comes to understand the horrific side of Greenwood. He tells his father, "That was all going on over my head" (Crowe 228). There is an alternate tone, which Harlan knows his son does not understand any better. As a father, he forgives Hiram and desires to place the past behind him. On the other hand, Elie and his father’s relationship ultimately crumbles. Elie explains, "I no longer thought of my father" (Wiesel 113). Situations are so awful within the concentration camp that he prefers the simplest foods, bread and soup, over his father. Each book has very unique father-son relationships, but similarities can still peek through. The father-son relationship is likewise comparable between the two books. They each start out in bad relationships with their fathers. Hiram’s relationship with his father starts out